MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading 5.9% Higher – Here’s Why

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price shot up 5.9% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $48.48 and last traded at $48.2870. 7,156,470 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 5% from the average session volume of 7,543,274 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.59.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MP has been the subject of several recent research reports. TD Securities raised MP Materials to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 9th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of MP Materials from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $68.50 to $71.00 in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $82.00 price target on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MP Materials from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $78.91.

MP Materials Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $59.30 and a 200 day moving average of $62.38. The company has a current ratio of 7.24, a quick ratio of 6.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market cap of $8.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -92.86 and a beta of 1.55.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $52.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $76.06 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 4.28% and a negative net margin of 38.26%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.12) earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total value of $17,492,742.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,805,965 shares in the company, valued at $821,758,774.05. This represents a 2.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,760,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 129,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,741,020. This represents a 26.28% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 346,000 shares of company stock valued at $22,006,616. 12.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Caxton Associates LLP acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at about $132,238,000. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in shares of MP Materials by 19,314.3% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,013,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,987,000 after buying an additional 2,003,091 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $82,531,000. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. raised its position in MP Materials by 168.4% in the 3rd quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 2,589,908 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,705,000 after buying an additional 1,624,908 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in MP Materials by 76.3% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,200,000 after buying an additional 1,264,243 shares during the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MP Materials Company Profile

MP Materials Corporation operates as a vertically integrated producer of rare earth materials in North America. The company owns and manages the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine and Processing Facility in California, the only commercially viable rare earth mining and processing site in the United States. MP Materials extracts, separates and refines critical rare earth elements—such as neodymium, praseodymium, and cerium—which are essential inputs for permanent magnets used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, and various defense applications.

The Mountain Pass mine first began commercial rare earth production in the 1950s and was later operated by Molycorp until its bankruptcy in 2015.